


Directions & Dragons

by c1trus



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Asexual Character, Dogs, Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 Edition, M/M, Other, Polyamory, References to Sex, but not graphic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-03
Updated: 2015-12-03
Packaged: 2018-05-04 17:18:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5342138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/c1trus/pseuds/c1trus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>“Anyway. A Kraken’s been destroying any ships that try to enter or leave the city’s port,” Niall explains, reading calmly from one of the notebooks spread out in front of him. “The governor of Nereid has just announced a reward for anyone who can defeat the Kraken. You all heard about it, and you’re all interested,” he rushes through the last part, then gestures grandly to the rest of them.</i>
</p><p> </p><p>OT5 play Dungeons & Dragons (3.5 edition) together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Directions & Dragons

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by my little twitter bot, [@1dfictagbundle](https://twitter.com/1dfictagbundle), which came up with this: [OT5 - Relationship, dungeons and dragons, drabbles, asexual character, dogs](https://twitter.com/1dfictagbundle/status/671124759720173568). 
> 
> i stole the campaign idea from a DnD wiki: "A Kraken is destroying any ships that try to enter or leave a city's port."
> 
> OT5 are dating, Niall's ace, and this is vaguely canon compliant in the vaguest way possible. these aren't technically really drabbles, but just short little snippets of their campaign.
> 
> just a silly little thing i wrote on a whim, honestly. i didn't proofread this! that's all.

I.  
Zayn calls Rhino in from the backyard with a loud whistle and greets his dog with enthusiastic headpats and kisses. Zayn’s the kind of person who would let his dog kiss his mouth, and he does, but he pushes Rhino away soon after and takes the final seat at his dining room table. Niall’s sitting at the head of the table surrounded by papers and folders. Harry’s to his right, and across from him Zayn is still getting comfortable next to Liam who sits across from Louis. 

Niall peels a clementine while the rest of them pore over the sheets he passes them once Zayn finally settles down. Rhino bumps the table, breaking the silence.

“Can I be a witch?” Harry asks, slowly. 

Niall bobs his head, considering. 

“Yes, but that isn’t really what you think it is. You probably just want to be a wizard.” 

They fumble through the rest of their character creation with a considerable amount of confusion. Niall spends way too long trying to explain base stats and how the numbers they roll factor into the skills column to Louis and Liam. 

He likes this part of DMing, though. He likes breaking down the numbers into characters. He likes knowing the limitations of each of their chosen races and classes off the top of his head; useless information still lingering from when he used to play the game as a teenager. He especially likes the map he made the night before, still tucked into one of his folders. 

Louis is especially obtuse, trying especially hard to make Niall’s job difficult. They all get a little drunk by the end of the night, even Niall. Niall and Louis get into an argument over whether or not a paladin could be evil. (Sure, _technically_ they could, but it just wouldn’t make sense.) It ends in half-yelling, half-laughing before Harry shushes them and turns his character sheet in for Niall’s approval. 

They don’t actually get to play; everyone too tired and drunk to remember anything important by the end of their character creation. Niall reassures everyone that that’s normal for first-time players. Later, when Niall’s in his room, he puts all of their characters and all of their information into a handwritten spreadsheet and tries to piece together how each of them will ultimately factor into his story.

II.  
“You’re all residents of the seaside town of Nereid by the Sea,” Niall starts, and Harry raises his finger to interrupt him almost immediately. Niall waves at him and amends, “Except for Harry, who lives on the outskirts of town.”

Harry smiles and bobs cheerfully in his seat. 

“Anyway. A Kraken’s been destroying any ships that try to enter or leave the city’s port. Nereid’s port is important to their local economy and has been suffering considerably since the appearance of the Kraken,” Niall explains, reading calmly from one of the notebooks spread out in front of him. “The governor of Nereid has just announced a reward for anyone who can defeat the Kraken. You all heard about it, and you’re all interested,” he rushes through the last part, then gestures grandly to the rest of them. 

Zayn stares intensely at his character sheet, then looks back up at Niall. 

“Now introduce yourselves!” Niall prompts, nodding.

Louis leans in, pushing his character sheet towards the middle of the table and loudly announces, “I’m David Beckham the _level one_ , chaotic neutral human rogue. I’m an athletic, wandering merchant and I really like money. I’ve got a very cool dagger. And… that’s about it.” He pauses, confidence wavering for half a second. “Right, Niall?” 

Niall nods. 

“I should tell him you’re playing him in Dungeons and Dragons,” Harry says slowly, smiling like he really wants to push Louis’s buttons. Louis squirms and waves his arm in Harry’s direction. 

“You go on then, who are you?” 

Harry takes ages to introduce his character. An elven woman named Florence living in the forest surrounding Nereid; she’s a wizard, and Harry goes on and on about how she _would_ be especially skilled at brewing potions if level one wizards could brew potions. He describes her appearance and backstory in detail until Liam politely interrupts and asks to introduce himself. 

Liam-- who opted to use a character name generator that Niall showed him-- glances up at Niall every couple sentences as he introduces, “Kevros, the human paladin. He’s sort of a knight for the governor, something like that.” Louis boos. “Niall said I’ve got to be a lawful good guy.” Louis boos again. “And I’ve got loads of charisma!” 

Zayn waits until Niall looks at him before he starts to introduce himself. 

“Right, so, my guy’s a half-elf-” he pauses to nod at Harry and Niall can’t wait to explain why nodding was entirely unnecessary- “ranger, which means she’s sick with a bow and arrow, like.” He looks proud of himself, smiling down at his character sheet. “Her name’s Kamala Khan, and, uh, she’s a chaotic good like Louis.” 

Once they go around the table picking over each other’s character choices and goofy names, Niall attempts to progress the plot. 

They don’t make much progress at all on their first night. Really, though, Niall didn't expect them to. He fills up on the baked goods that Harry brought over to Zayn’s and he gets into a mild row again with Louis the one and only time he’s asked to roll for something. 

The five of them retire to Zayn’s massive bedroom at the end of the night. Liam joins Niall on the sofa for a cuddle while Harry, Louis, and Zayn trade kisses with each other on the bed. Liam joins them and is replaced with Rhino at some point. Niall half watches the other four boys, but he mostly focuses on rubbing the wiggly pitbull’s tummy. He falls asleep, he thinks, before any clothes come off, but he wakes up suddenly when Harry cums loudly, legs shaking and with drawn out moans. 

III.  
Niall starts bringing Fisher-Price Little People to their sessions when they start splintering off into groups. For what should have been a quick and easy first time campaign, the four of them really make a mess of it. Niall wonders if they would have done better with an investigative RPG over the more combat-oriented one they were playing. 

That wasn’t to say there hadn’t been improvement. Definitely, they were all starting to take the game a little more seriously by their fourth or fifth session. They were all getting the hang of the maths part of the game-- even Louis-- and were even beginning to level up their characters after Niall implemented a post-session experience gaining check-in. 

Harry started to come dressed like his character and tried to encourage the others to do the same. Liam, at least, wore a coat he said Kevros would wear during one session. Liam also made a playlist, which Zayn would play over his fancy speakers while they played. It was mostly music from the Lord of the Rings movies which Niall didn’t think really suited the theme of their campaign but was alright, really. 

Liam and Louis ended up separating from Zayn and Harry more often than was necessary, which Niall almost tried to stop. He didn’t want to railroad them because they were having fun, but it really wasn’t normal for a rogue and a paladin to team up like Louis and Liam wanted them to. 

Eventually, this pattern revealed something to Niall. The campaign was becoming a competition rather than a collaboration. While Niall had originally planned for them to work together as a foursome, it became apparent that Louis really wanted to kill the Kraken before Zayn or Harry could.

Which, fine. The clove-scented candles that Zayn lit and the dimmed lights made him feel cozy and comfortable when he finally realized his plans would have to change. 

“I punch this little shit for trying to swindle me,” Louis demands, moving to roll his dice before Niall can object. 

He succeeds, and David Beckham punches the rival merchant-- a gnome with obviously overpriced goods, but goods that Liam and Louis need if they want to stay ahead of Harry and Zayn. Harry’s at least level three now, which means Florence has suddenly become as proficient in brewing potion as Harry had originally wanted. 

Niall just laughs and lets Louis dig himself deeper into his hole while Liam attempts to do damage control with his outstanding charisma skills. Soon they’re all laughing-- even Harry, squawking and slapping his knees-- at the ridiculous situation Louis gets the two of them into, and Niall feels warm all the way down to his toes. 

IV.  
To get them motivated, Niall introduces a rival band of misfits who are also interested in the governor’s reward for killing the Kraken. They’ve spent several sessions puttering about, trying to sabotage each other and spending way too much time asking questions of random townsfolk when they could be battling. 

The rival gang does its job and then some. By the tenth session, the original group of four decides to reunite. Louis recognizes that Harry and Zayn are valuable, and, “Ultimately, I just want to kill the fucking Kraken at the end of all this, right?” 

Right. 

Louis, who had originally been especially critical about the idea of playing Dungeons and Dragons, was beginning to become the most enthusiastic. He was definitely the most active player, even trying to squirm his way into scenes that didn’t involve David Beckham in any way. 

“That was so sick,” Louis babbled loudly, walking Niall to one of Zayn’s guest bedrooms, “When Zayn was hunting that thing--”

“Stirge,” Niall interrupts him to say. 

“Right, yeah. Like, you’re so good at describing this stuff. Like I’m really watching it or something, isn’t it?” Louis goes on, face lit up like he genuinely was excited. 

Niall thinks he must be glowing red with how warm his face feels. He laughs and bites his nails, sucks on his prickly cuticles. 

“Yeah, thanks. You’re doing great, too, like. Didn’t think you’d like it at all, honestly,” he replies, sounding modest on accident. 

“No! Love it!” Louis assures him. Then quieter, “Really love it. Brilliant idea.” 

He kisses Niall up against the door to the guest bedroom and he tastes like sticky buns and Yorkshire tea. The cloves scent stained into his shirt, even after they’d left the dining room. Niall’s breathless by the end of it and laughs. 

“Yeah? Goodnight, Nialler.” 

“Yeah, goodnight Lou.” 

V.  
They all know it’s the finale. They’re completely and totally prepared for it to end, even if Harry had said he wished he could play as Florence forever during their last session. 

Harry and Niall cook up a feast in Zayn’s fancy and mostly-unused kitchen for the bulk of the afternoon. Rhino weaves between their legs while Liam, Zayn, and Louis watch something on the too-big TV in the other room. Harry compliments Niall’s cooking and Niall compliments Harry’s bread, and they both admire each other’s aprons. 

They eat quickly-- too quickly for how long it had taken Harry and Niall to make it-- and talk loudly about how eager they are to finally face the Kraken. Zayn scoops peppermint ice cream into tiny glass bowls for everyone when all the other dishes are in the sink and Niall’s passing out everyone’s character sheets. 

None of them are prepared for how long it takes to fight the Kraken. It’s hours of work, the four of them keeping their die in their hands, eager to roll at any second. 

They all work together, fighting to destroy the Kraken and keep each other alive. Liam rolls a critical fail at some point (near what Niall knows is the end of the battle) and Kevros is unable to be saved. Liam looks visibly disappointed but Niall tells him it’s nearly over anyway. 

Kamala makes the final blow, and Niall, Harry, Liam, and Louis all cheer while Zayn smiles half-embarrassed, half-proud of himself. Rhino howls along with them, which makes Niall laugh until he thinks he could cry. 

After the battle, the first thing the three of them want to do is give Liam a viking funeral. 

“You guys aren’t vikings,” Niall tries to explain, face still red from laughing and cheering. “You wouldn’t do that.”

“Just let us have this,” Louis replies, doing his best to sound somber despite his smile. 

“Our friend just died,” Harry adds on, and Zayn nods. 

Niall lets them have their viking funeral before insisting they get their reward for slaying the Kraken. When it’s finally over, Niall rewards them all with a kiss on the cheek “for being good sports,” and they all assure him that they had fun. That he had been a good dungeon master.


End file.
